A day in the life with 2!

I know, I know... I haven't posted in ages. We've been a little busy around here since Peter joined our family in February. Blogging is not a priority for me and I make no promises about the next time I might post. But I thought I would update everyone on what life is like for the Schulers these days!

6:30 or 7 - Peter starts to stir, so I quickly hop in the shower before getting him. Then I feed him and get him dressed.

7:30 - Mabel gets up for the day and we get her dressed and have breakfast.

8:30 - Playtime or errands... Target, Meijer, or the library!

9 - Peter usually takes a cat nap around now. Just 20 minutes or so, which usually happens in the car seat if we are out and about.

10:30 - Snack time! Peter eats again and Mabel has a snack. She usually has raisins or puffs or animal crackers in a snack cup as I sit with Peter.

11- More play time with Mabel and another short nap for Peter. Sometimes we go for a walk and Peter naps while Mabel and I check out the neighborhood.

Noon - Lunchtime! Peter kicks around in his bouncy seat while Mabel and I have lunch and Oscar cleans up the crumbs on the floor :)

1:00 - Mabel goes down for her nap and Peter eats again. On a good day, Mabel will sleep for about an hour and a half. Sometimes longer, if I'm lucky!

2:30 - Mabel usually gets up just as Peter is going down for a long afternoon nap, usually 2 hours or so. If I'm really lucky, their naps will overlap for about 30 minutes and then I can catch up on email or dishes or laundry. Mabel and I play (sometimes inside, sometimes outside) while Peter sleeps.

4:30 or 5 - Peter eats again as we anxiously await Toby's return from work!

5:30 - Peter is happy to watch the rest of us eat dinner. After dinner we play some more or go for a walk or do baths.

7:15 - Mabel has some milk, we read books, and she goes to bed. She's been having a hard time falling asleep lately because it stays light until 9pm. Even the room-darkening blinds don't help. Sometimes she talks in her crib for more than an hour before falling asleep. Once Mabel is in bed we change Peter for the night and feed him.

8:30 - Peter is swaddled up and sleeping and Toby and I (and Oscar!) finally get some quiet time. Peter is a rock-star sleeper and we don't hear a peep from him until morning!


And, of course, a good post always has pictures!

A day in the life

Well, once again I've failed miserably at blogging. Oops. Here is my attempt to make up for the last few months. I've seen other people do this type of post and I like the idea. Here is a day in the life of Mabel at 9 months old. I think it will be fun to look back at this and remember what our days together used to be like.

~ 6:45 or 7a - Mabel wakes up and talks in her crib, sucks her thumb, and dozes off for a couple more minutes
~ 7:30a or so - I get Mabel from her crib and change her clothes. She watches me with amazement as I blow-dry my hair. We play for a few minutes before breakfast starts.
~ 8a - Breakfast! She loves to sit in her highchair and eat Cheerios. She also has oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and a bottle.
~ Playtime! Mabel loves to sit on the floor to play with (or chew on) her toys. She loves her little babydoll and her Little People animals. Sometimes we go for a walk around the neighborhood. We read books, talk, and play with Oscar.
~ 9:3oa - Naptime! She usually sleeps for an hour or so. Once she is up, we play some more. Sometimes we run some errands, visit Toby at the library, or see friends.
~ Noon - Lunch! Mabel loves to eat with her fingers but she has a hard time with sticky food (like bananas and avocado). Lately we've been sticking to drier foods like bread, black beans, puffs, and peas. At lunch she also has a veggie puree and fruit or yogurt. Oh, and another bottle.
~ 1p - Another nap. This one is usually shorter. Last week some time, she rolled onto her tummy during this nap and she has been sleeping like that ever since!
~ 2:30 or so - Playtime and a snack. She loves to be outside, so if it isn't too hot we like to sit on a blanket in the front yard to play. Sometimes we run errands instead. Mabel also likes to stand by her activity table, look at books, unload her toy box, and play in her jumperoo.
~ 4p - Her last nap of the day. This one can be tricky. She doesn't always fall asleep in her crib so sometimes we take a little drive for this nap. Mabel loves to sleep in the car!
~ 5p - Dinner! More veggies, finger foods, and a bottle.
~ 5:30p - Toby comes home! We are both happy to see Toby at the end of the day. He plays with Mabel for a while and we try to eat dinner while she plays on the floor. Sometimes we go for a walk together or play in the yard. Mabel gets a bath in the evening every other day or so. She loves taking baths!
~ 7p - Time for PJs and the last bottle of the day. She is usually in bed by 7.30. We lay her in her crib and turn on her musical seahorse. She pops her thumb in her mouth and she is asleep within minutes!

We are so blessed with a happy, healthy, adorable little girl!

Updates on the Schuler ladies

I really intend to update this blog more often. I guess life gets in the way. Here is an update about the Schuler ladies.

Mabel is 6 months old! She is so much fun these days. She is chatting to herself and sitting up (mostly) on her own. She can sit up pretty well for a while, but still tips over here and there. She still isn't rolling over at all, though. Crazy little lady.

She is sleeping like a champ at night. We usually put her to bed at 7:15 or 7:30 and she wakes up happy around 7:30 in the morning. She naps during the day, but she doesn't really have a set napping schedule. We started solids a while ago and she is just recently eating really well. This morning she had oatmeal and bananas. She has also had carrots and peas.
Once the weather started to get nicer, I started running. Well, I started the Couch to 5K program. After only a week, I was having some knee pain. I felt like an old lady! It was painful to go up and down stairs, get up off the floor, and walk/run for a distance. Not fun. I didn't want to quit the program just as I was starting, so I continued with week 2 on the elliptical machine. I went to our doctor yesterday, who also happens to be a sports medicine guy. Apparently, I have "runner's knee" which is partly caused from my new activity, the fact that I have wider hips (like most women), I under-pronate when I walk/run (put more pressure on the outside of my foot), and I am slightly knock-kneed (my knees point in instead of line up with my hips and feet). So, basically, my hips are wide, my knees are narrow, and my feet are wide, and therefore my legs are not straight from top to bottom and my knees don't work quite right when I run. They gave me some strengthening activities to do at home to build up the muscles around the knees and the pain should go away. Let's hope so!

In case you were wondering, the Schuler boys (Toby and Oscar) are doing just fine!

Getting crafty again...

I haven't had much time for sewing or crafting since Mabel was born. Whenever she naps, I feel like I have something else to do... laundry, stuffing diapers, picking up around the house, planning for school. The list never ends! For a while, I would sew for the 5-10 minutes right after I put her down for a nap, just to make sure that she is sleeping before I head back downstairs. Then I started giving myself a few minutes every night after she was in bed. For a while, all I made were a few onesies and a cute reversible pinafore top for Mabel (but I think I kind of messed it up...).


I have also started working on a small lap quilt. The day before Mabel was born, my mom and I went to a quilt show in GR and I bought a kit. Slowly but surely I've been piecing it together. No pictures of that yet, though!

While I enjoy working on big projects like quilts, sometimes I get too anxious to see results. I cut without measuring carefully or sew too quickly, and just end up making mistakes! So I've decided that my next projects need to be short and sweet.

First up, a cute slipcover for my camera, using a Petchy tutorial. Then, a reusable cup cozy. I haven't found a great tutorial for that yet, so I might just wing it!

Why cloth?

I am not a cloth diaper freak. I don't look down on other people for using disposables and I don't preach to every parent I know about using cloth. But, a few people have asked me why we decided to use cloth diapers with Mabel, so I thought I'd share our reasoning. Here are our main reasons, in order of importance.

1. Environmentally, disposable diapers are a real burden. They need a lot of water, energy, and petroleum to make. They make up a large percentage of garbage in landfills and stay there forever. Well, not forever, but some scientist estimate that it takes 500 years for a single disposable diaper to decompose. Yes, I need to wash our cloth diapers often and therefore use extra water in my washer and extra energy for my dryer. But I'm glad that Mabel's dirty diapers won't be sitting in a landfill somewhere when her great-great-great-grandchildren are having their children.

2. Disposable diapers are expensive! Yes, I know they go on sale and I can clip coupons to save money. But still, they are pricey. If you diaper a baby for 2 years, you might use around 4,300 diapers (that is 6 diapers a day for 730 days). If a pack of 40 diapers costs $8, then each diaper costs about 25 cents. That's just over $1,000 spent on diapers. Yes, cloth diapers can be pricey, but it is a one-time expense. We have 25 cloth diapers that cost us about $20 each, so our stash cost us about $500. And of course our water bill and energy bill might be a little bit higher, but hopefully we can quit using the dryer during warmer weather and let our diapers dry outside.

3. Disposables have some pretty yucky chemicals. Even traces of dioxin, a known carcinogen. I've noticed that when we did use disposables on Mabel, her diapers didn't smell gross, but her cloth diapers are pretty stinky. It made me realize that there is something in those cloth diapers (a gel? a chemical? powder?) that covers up the natural smell of her poop. But that "something" is also getting onto her skin in some pretty sensitive areas. At least when she wears cloth, the only thing touching her skin is her own waste, not a yucky chemical.

4. They are CUTE! I mean, seriously, they are adorable. Mabel looks so cute in them (even though it makes her butt a little bigger and need bigger pants).

5. I have a good existing support system of people who use cloth diapers, including my sister, one of my best friends, and at least 3 coworkers. I knew that I had lots of people to help me and answer my questions. If I didn't know anyone else that used cloth, I don't know if I would be using them!

Is cloth for everyone? Probably not. Disposables are convenient and easy to use. You don't need to touch anything gross or spend time washing and drying diapers. But for us, we are really glad we decided to go with cloth and we're really pleased with how things are going so far. Do I have to touch some gross stuff? Yes. Do I spend a lot of time washing diapers? Yes. Is it worth it? For us, yes.

Back to work...

Yesterday was my first day back at work. And before I tell you how our days went, I just need to say how BLESSED I am to work where I do. I teach in an amazing school district. One of the best public school districts in Michigan. And I teach in an fabulosa elementary school. I get to speak in Spanish all day to encourage students in their second language development and I get to work with open-minded, creative, passionate, and energetic colleagues. And the parent community is supportive and generous. I love my job.

This year, I am even more blessed to work part-time. In preparation for Mabel's arrival, I moved from full-time to part-time this year and moved from 2nd grade to 1st grade. I miss 2nd graders and their skills, the fun curriculum I taught, and the 2nd grade teachers. They became some of my best friends in the world as we taught together. But I sure do love my schedule. I teach every Monday, every Tuesday, and every other Wednesday. Yes, that means my weekends are always at least 4 days :) I am also blessed to teach with my partner teacher, Sharlynn, who teaches the opposite Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

I can not thank Sharlynn enough for what she did this fall. She patiently helped me integrate all of my stuff into her classroom (even our excessive stacks of Post-Its). She spent extra time at school to sit and plan with me as I learned about 1st grade. She taught full-time for a few weeks when Mabel arrived early and did all 25 of our fall parent-teacher conferences alone. She communicated with my long-term sub and welcomed me back to school with open arms. I don't think I could ever pay her back for everything she has done for me this year!

So, after doing some planning with Sharlynn, I headed back into the classroom. I spent some time at school before my first "real" day to see how the kids were doing, what routines were important, and how well they were reading and writing and speaking Spanish. Yesterday was a full day of in-service. And today we had a 2-hour delay. And tomorrow isn't my Wednesday. So as my first week back, I only really taught for 5 hours. Actually, if you subtract 1 hour for lunch and recess and 1 hour for specials... I guess I really only taught for 3 hours. What a great way to ease back into work!

Of course, there are challenges. I leave the house early in the morning and Toby is in charge of getting Mabel dressed, fed, and off to daycare. I work with germy kids who pick their noses and will I will bring home germs. But this is a great opportunity for me to get some time with adults, use my professional skills, and get out of the house once in a while. And Mabel enjoyed being at daycare and should enjoy interacting with other babies. All in all, this arrangement should be great for both of us!

RSV

The Respiratory Syncytial Virus. A virus that many people get and many people can quickly recover from. It is a virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages and can be especially dangerous for children with chronic lung problems or preemies who were born with under-developed lungs.

While Mabel was technically a preemie (born at 34.5 weeks), she never had breathing problems. Her biggest issue at birth was mastering the suck/swallow/breathe sequence. But because she is a preemie under 6 months old during the RSV season (November-March), our doctor talked to us about getting the vaccine. Well, not really a vaccine. A vaccine actually injects part of the virus into the body so that the body creates it's own anitbodies. The RSV shot (Synagis) is actually an antibody that is injected directly so that the babies can fight RSV if/when they encounter it.

Now, this shot of Synagis is expensive. I mean, like our first dose costs more than our monthly mortgage payment. And babies are supposed to get a shot a month during the RSV season if they meet a certain list of risk factors. For us, they were talking about giving a shot in December, January, February, and March. Mabel's risk factors include her gestational age at birth, the fact that I "attend" school and will bring home germs from school-aged children, and that she will attend daycare. But 4 shots? For a baby that only meets a few of the risk factors? Eek!

With advice from my fabulous pediatrician sister and from Mabel's pediatrician, we decided to protect Mabel from RSV with shots in January and February. Those are her first months of daycare, the first months when I'll be back at school, and almost the end of the RSV season. Plus, by the beginning of March she will be 5 months old and her little body will be more able to fight any virus that might come her way. We, of course, want to do everything we can to keep Mabel healthy. But yesterday when we went to the doctor's office for that first shot, I couldn't help but cringe a little when I saw that tiny, tiny vial with a giant price tag.